W. Steven Ward’s laboratory focuses on the function of the tightly compact mammalian sperm chromatin structure. His models for sperm chromatin structure based on his work and that of others that have become the standard in the field. The model divides sperm chromatin into three major compartments. The first division are the protamine bound toroids that are resistant to DNA damaging agents such as nucleases and even free radicals. His laboratory described the organization of DNA by the sperm nuclear matrix, and currently studies the role of this structure in DNA degradation in the sperm, and in the replication of the paternal genome after fertilization. Dr. Ward obtained his doctorate at Vanderbilt University in biochemistry in 1985, then spent five years in the laboratory of Donald S. Coffey at Johns Hopkins University. From 1990 to 2000, he was the Director of Urologic Research at the Robert Wood Johnson School of Medicine. In 2000 he moved to the University of Hawaii to join the newly formed Institute for Biogenesis Research (IBR), and professor in the Department of Anatomy, Biochemistry & Physiology. He became the Director of the IBR in 2005.